We left Elijah having rebuilt the altar of the Lord and destroyed the false Prophets. I am sure if this was our story we would have prayed for the rain without dealing with the false gods and worship. We need to deal with the cause of the drought as God directs us to, to release the living waters within our lives, our families, communities, and nation.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Elijah had prayed very publicly for the fire. It would have been very embarrassing if nothing had happened. As a Prophet I often question God! Did you really mean pour water over the sacrifice? Surely it won’t catch fire if it’s soaking wet? I am amazed that God doesn’t strike me down when I question Him, but I think He likes the conversation and proving after all that He is the God of the impossible.
After such a massive public breakthrough, you could imagine if it was today, Elijah would have started the Elijah revival tour!! However, as a humble man, he positioned himself on His knees. Elijah chose to honour God’s holiness and majesty, giving thanks for the awesome victory he had just experienced.
1 Kings 18:41 Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” Elijah was very confident that the rain was coming because God had told him so he mobilised Ahab! If there is no clear prophetic voice, how are we mobilised and how do we bring a shift to change the atmosphere?
Psalm 25:14 (Passion) There is a private place reserved for the lovers of God where they sit near Him and receive the revelation-secrets of His promises. Elijah had heard God speaking, Lord help us to come into that private place where we can hear your secrets.
Amos 3:7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets.
Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, humbled himself, stooping down to the ground and putting his face between his knees. He positioned himself birthing breakthrough. He had just had his greatest triumph and victory, but he chose to humble himself before God, by crouching down into the very undignified birthing position to bring the breakthrough of many waters. When you need breakthrough, even after a powerful victory, make sure you position yourself in humility and not pride!
“Go and look toward the sea,” Elijah told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said.
Elijah asked God for only one thing – “Lord, send the rain!” Just as the disciples in the upper room, prayed for only one thing, the promised Holy Spirit. Again, when Peter was in prison, the Church prayed for only one thing – Peter’s deliverance.
If we are looking for breakthrough, we need to know what we are asking God for and ensure we are looking in the right direction Elijah did not give up when the servant reported seeing nothing. He refused to accept the hope of a trickle of rain. Elijah kept pushing into God until he knew the promised breakthrough was coming. We need to do the same or we will miss the start of our breakthrough and may give up too soon.
Elijah insisted that the servant keep looking. At the end of the day Elijah was the Prophet who could see, whilst his servant was not! If you are prophetic and you see things, don’t be surprised when others don’t. You need to be sensitive and not judge those who don’t see what you see. However, like Elijah we need to persist until what we see comes to pass.
Having persevered with his servant the seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” It was the 7th time! Biblically 7 = perfection, rest, sacrifice, purification, consecration, forgiveness, reward, and abundance! Wow that’s helpful; to understand!!
Elijah said to his servant, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
Often when we have experienced rain in Africa on the dirt roads, we have not been able to travel anywhere! You are stuck! I was once due to speak at a massive conference with thousands of Leaders and it started raining heavily. My driver did not arrive and there was nothing I could do except pray there would be someone else who God would anoint to speak in my place!
Again, we must be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing when the rain comes, or we will be stuck! Heavy rain came to Dubai recently and the whole of Dubai came to a complete halt effecting flights all around the world.
Meanwhile, back to Elijah and Ahab - the sky grew black, the wind rose, and heavy rain started falling. Notice that the fire fell only on the sacrifice, but the rain fell upon everyone!
Ahab rode off towards Jezreel (which means God scatters) a town in Issachar. This is where the King of Israel often lived and where Baal worship was founded! The sons of Isaachar should have understood the times and seasons, and how to position themselves before the Lord. However, here they were not in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, doing the right thing. They had allowed Baal worship, opening the door to the demonic and certainly losing their way!
What happened next was miraculous as the power of the Lord came on Elijah. Despite Elijah fasting for many days, he outran Ahab (= government) and his chariots, despite Jezreel being the 25 miles away. Elijah ran ahead of Ahab, full of the good news!
The rain was on its way as the Spirit of God came upon Elijah, he tucked his cloak into his belt (truth) and ran ahead of the King! Our mantle or cloak of authority must always be held in position by the belt of truth! God created the Prophets to go ahead – to be forerunners of the truth and to prepare the way. We must spiritually run ahead of the government, and we do that through prophetic prayer! We need to arise and be willing to release the voice of God amongst the affairs of man bringing the government of heaven to earth.
Elijah ran, divinely empowered by the Lord and when we are walking with the Lord, we have access to the same power! The kingdom of God is about a kingdom with no limits, where there is a flow from heaven to earth.
That’s how we live in our destinies! God is wrapping us with His cloak of authority so that we can operate in His Spirit and power just as Elijah did. John the Baptist moved in the spirit of Elijah; the Bible says that we will be greater than John the Baptist, therefore we can operate in the spirit of Elijah as well! James 5:17 says, “Elijah was a man like us!”
We are called to run from the mountain-top of God’s presence into our workplaces, schools, office, marketplaces, and communities. We should be running ahead, influenced by the Holy Spirit as people full of good news, to prepare an environment where the government can be influenced by heavens agenda.
Excellent 💛